THE congestion at Chelyabinsk Variant A Tournament leader board in Russia eased up after Round 7 with GM Anton Shomoev and IM Andrey Drygalov now the only two players leading the field with just three rounds to go of the Swiss classic event.
Shomoev and Drygalov have 5½ points each, half-a-point ahead of top seed GM Pavel Ponkratov, 3rd GM Igor Lysyj, 8th GM Dmitry Frolyanov and 9th seed GM Alexei Fedorov; and IMs Rudik Makarian, Polina Shuvalova, Semen Khanin, and Alisher Suleymenov who are hot on the duo’s heels with five points apiece and sharing 3rd to 10th places.
A group of 17 players, among them 2nd seed GM Anton Demchenko, 4th seed GM Sergei Azarov, 5th seed GM Nikita Petrov, and 10th seed GM Nikita Afanasiev, are bunched in 11th to 27th places with 4½ points each. The next round will certainly be crucial to the top 10 in the standings.
Bryakin, M (2464)-Drygalov, A (2500) [A22]
Chelyabinsk (6.4) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 Bb4 4.Bg2 0-0 5.e3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 d6 7.Ne2 e4 8.f3 exf3 9.Bxf3 Nc6 10.d3 Re8 11.e4 Bg4 12.Bxg4 Nxg4 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.cxd4 Qf6 15.Qe2 Qxd4 16.Bb2 Qe3 17.Qxe3 Nxe3 18.Kd2 Ng4 19.Rab1 b6 20.Bc3 Ne5 21.Rhf1 Re6 22.Rf5 Rae8 23.a4 a5 24.Rb5 Nd7 25.Bd4 Rh6 26.h4 Rg6 27.Rf3 Rge6 28.Rff5 f6 29.Rf2 Kf7 30.Rff5 Ne5 31.Rf1 Ke7 32.Rf5 Rh8 33.Rf1 h5 34.Be3 Kd7 35.Rf5 g6 36.Rf1 Rf8 37.Rbb1 Ng4 38.Bd4 Re7 39.Rf4 Ref7 40.Re1 f5 41.e5 dxe5 42.Bxe5 Re7 43.Bc3 Rxe1 44.Kxe1 Kc6 45.Kd2 Nf6 46.Rf1 Nd7 47.Re1 Nc5 48.Re7 Rd8 49.d4 Rd7 50.Rxd7 Ne4+ 51.Kd3 Kxd7 52.Be1 Ke6 53.Ke3 Kf6 54.Kf4 Nd6 55.c5 Ne4 56.cxb6 cxb6 57.d5 Nc5 58.Bc3+ Ke7 59.Bd4 Nxa4 60.d6+ Kxd6 61.Kg5 Kd5 62.Bg7 Ke6 63.Kxg6 Nc5 64.Bd4 Ne4 65.Bxb6 a4 66.Kxh5 Kd5 67.Be3 a3 68.Bc1 a2 69.Bb2 Nxg3+ 70.Kg5 Ke4 71.Bc3 f4 72.Kg4 Nf5 73.h5 f3 74.Kh3 Kd3 75.Bg7 f2 0-1
Ponkratov, P (2619)-Remizov, Y (2411) [B12]
Chelyabinsk (6.5) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.a3 Bxc5 6.Qg4 g6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.b4 Bf8 9.Bb2 h5 10.Qg3 Nh6 11.Bd3 Nf5 12.Bxf5 gxf5 13.h4 a5 14.b5 Ne7 15.Nbd2 Ng6 16.c4 Bh6 17.Rd1 Rg8 18.Ng5 Nxh4 19.Qxh4 Qxg5 20.Qxh5 Qxh5 21.Rxh5 Bxd2+ 22.Rxd2 dxc4 23.Rh4 Bd7 24.a4 Rc8 25.Bc3 Rc5 26.f3 Ke7 27.Kf2 Ra8 28.Rc2 Be8 29.Bd4 Rcc8 30.Bb2 b6 31.Rd2 Kf8 32.Ba3+ Kg7 33.Be7 c3 34.Bf6+ Kg6 35.Rc2 Ra7 36.g4 Rd7 37.Kg3 Rd2 38.g5 1-0
Lysyj, I (2605)-Kovalchuk, A (2379) [A59]
Chelyabinsk (6.6) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 d6 7.e4 Bxf1 8.Kxf1 g6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Nf3 Nbd7 11.Kg2 0-0 12.a4 Qb6 13.Qe2 Rfb8 14.Nb5 Ne8 15.Ra3 Nc7 16.Nxc7 Qxc7 17.b3 Qa5 18.Bd2 Qa6 19.Qxa6 Rxa6 20.a5 f5 21.exf5 Nf6 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.h4 Nxd5 24.h5 gxh5 25.Rxh5 Nc3 26.Be1 Bf6 27.Rf5 Nb1 28.Ra4 Rxb3 29.Ng5 Kg7 30.Ne6+ Kf7 31.Re4 c4 32.Nc7 Rc6 33.Nd5 Rb7 34.a6 Ra7 35.Rxe7+ Rxe7 36.Rxf6+ Ke8 37.Nxe7 Kxe7 38.a7 Ra6 39.Rh6 c3 40.Bc3 Nc3 41.Rh8 1-0
Petrov, N (2571)-Simantsev, M (2389) [E18]
Chelyabinsk (6.11) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 0-0 8.0-0 f5 9.Ne5 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Bf6 12.Qd3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 dxc6 14.Rad1 Qd7 15.e4 Rad8 16.Qe2 Rfe8 17.Rfe1 g6 18.h4 h5 19.Qf3 Bg7 20.e5 b5 21.b3 bxc4 22.bxc4 Bh6 23.Bb4 Bf8 24.Bd2 Rb8 25.Bc3 Bb4 26.Re3 Bxc3 27.Rxc3 Red8 28.Ra3 Rb4 29.Qc3 Rb7 30.Ra5 Rf8 31.Qf3 Rb4 32.Rc5 Rb6 33.a4 Ra6 34.a5 Kg7 35.d5 cxd5 36.cxd5 Rf7 37.Qc3 Kh7 38.Qc4 Qc8 39.d6 Qb7+ 40.Kg1 cxd6 41.exd6 f4 42.Rc7 1-0
Shomoev, A (2563)-Girya, O (2432) [C80]
Chelyabinsk (7.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.Bxe6 Nxe6 12.cxd4 Ncxd4 13.a4 Bb4 14.axb5 Nxb5 15.Nc4 Qxd1 16.Rxd1 0-0 17.Be3 Rfb8 18.Na5 Bxa5 19.Rxa5 c5 20.Rda1 Nbd4 21.Bxd4 Nxd4 22.Nxd4 cxd4 23.Rxa6 Rxa6 24.Rxa6 g5 25.h4 gxh4 26.Rd6 Rxb2 27.Rxd4 Rb1+ 28.Kh2 Re1 29.Rg4+ Kf8 30.f4 f6 31.exf6 Re6 32.Rxh4 Rxf6 33.Kg3 Kg7 34.Rh5 Ra6 35.Kg4 Ra1 36.Rb5 Rg1 37.g3 Kf7 38.Rb7+ Kg8 39.Kh4 Rg2 40.f5 Rg1 41.g4 Ra1 42.Kg5 Ra6 43.Re7 Rb6 44.Re6 Rb4 45.Kf6 h6 46.Re8+ Kh7 47.Re7+ Kh8 48.g5 hxg5 49.Kg6 Rb8 50.f6 Rg8+ 51.Kh6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…f5, Kxe3 2.Rd3#; 1…Qd4/xd5+/e2/d1/xe3 2.Sd6#; 1…Qxc1 2.Re5#; 1…Qa5+ 2.Rxa5#./PN
